Mystery continues of Mexican stopped at airport with drone parts

Tel Aviv
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A Mexican tourist was stopped by Israeli customs inspectors at Ben Gurion airport yesterday after drone parts were found in his luggage. The reason why he was bringing the parts into Israel still remains a mystery.

Yesterday it was reported on Digital Journal that a Mexican tourist had been detained at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport when it was discovered he was carrying 3 suitcases full of drone parts.

An updated report in Haaretz says that the man, a Jewish citizen of Mexico, had traveled to Israel from Mexico through France without the drone parts being detected.

On questioning at Ben Gurion airport, the man calmly said that the Mexican authorities had bought the drones from the Israeli company Aeronautics Defense Systems and since the parts needed repairing, he was bringing them back to ADS's Yavneh factory situated in between Tel Aviv and Ashdod.

The customs officials became suspicious when the man, carrying no paperwork to support his story, gave confused answers to where he was to be staying and who his local contact person happened to be.

The inspectors put the parts together and found that they made two complete drones.

The officials contacted Aeronautics, who confirmed that they had sold drones, which could be used for military or semi-military purposes, to the Mexican authorities three years ago. However, ADS said repairs are arranged by by prior appointment and they had not received a work order for such equipment or been informed that a visitor would be arriving.